The discrete elicited lateral tongue movement of the human newborn that was initially described under this project continues to be employed for psychophysical studies of neonatal taste. The elicitation of tongue movements by individual 5 microliter drops of fluid placed on the tongue is initially independent of taste. However, repeated stimulation with a single fluid leads to decreased response. The adaptation is selective and provides a technique for measuring the tongue's sensitivity to taste. In earlier studies, increments in responding were elicited by adding glucose to the test solution after criterion adaptation to water. This paradigm has now been employed to test the sensitivity of the newborn's tongue to salt solutions. Since infants have been found to be sensitive to taste at birth it is possible, as has been contended on the basis of animal studies, that early taste experience shapes later food preferences and dietary habits. The reflex measures of taste reception that have been developed here will permit one to investigate whether and by what mechanisms early taste experience prejudices the subsequent development of appropriate eating patterns in humans.